furious...

yesterday i had 2 drs appts in the afternoon which worked out where i left for the day at 330.. i imagined meeting for a follow-up with my GI doctor at 345, then having enough time to buzz down to the valley and deposit my check from EH and still have time to make it to my 520 eye dr appointment... of course nothing works as perfectly as fantasy...

i was checking into the window at exactly 345, which was a feat i was especially proud of seeing as i left work in E Syracuse at 330. about 10 minutes in i was called to a prep room where the nurse took my vitals, after that i was sent back to the waiting room. i continued reading the People edition about Owen Wilsons failed suicide attempt. the old man next to me was snoring rather loudly. i should have taken that as an indication that i would have much looonger to wait.. i glance at the clock it's 410.. i'll make it, still plenty of time to be seen. i'm probably next.. so i continue reading people as i notice every single person in the waiting room slowly take their turn back in the office. pretty soon its 430, i make a pact with myself that i am going to leave at 5 regardless of being seen or not. then three nurses leave the office. great, noone is manning the sign in window now..i won't even have someone to tell i am leaving. the inevitable happens and i am the only one left in the waiting room and its 5pm. i notice a nurse milling about in the shelves of files, i grab her attention and tell her i have another appointment and i have to leave, "can i reschedule this?". she looks at me like this is the first time someone has ever been mad that they had to wait over an hour to be seen. she takes me back into the cubical area to schedule me because the secretary's computer is shut off cause she had left a half hour ago. back in cubicle land one of the nurses feet are propped up, she's kicking back shooting the breeze with who i have to assume is the doctor. (i forget what he looks like, but this guy looked italian) then the nurse helping me asks me if i want to come in on a monday or a thursday? i say, which ever day has an appointment after 6pm. again, i get that look of disbelief. apparently the good doctor only sees follow up patients between 2-345 on those 2 days. so i ask for a 2 appointment and ask if that "is his first appt after lunch? will there be a wait at 2? i only have an hour for lunch." disbelieving stare.. she said i can call and ask how far behind they are if i want.. i took whatever appt she wanted to give me (in october, btw) and have no intentions of going. i am so pissed that they have so little regard for peoples schedules. not everyone is 90 years old and has nothing better to do than rot in a waiting room watching fox news!!! ugh. i think i hate this doctor.. compound this horrific waiting room experience with the screaming before my procedure and i've seen enough. never again.

so i'm mad to the point of tears as i drive to my eye doctor appointment to get a prescription for new contacts. thank god for those people. they are so nice. the two secretary's couldn't have been nicer. the associate eye dr got my eye tests going right away, everyone in there complimented my frames and knew which brand they were immediately. the dr wasted no time in checking my prescription and told me about the new technology behind the new lenses with no BS. i put on the trial pair, made an appointment to come back in a week to let him know how they feel and i was on my way. i was walking in the door at 620. exactly 1 hour after my appointment.

i was glad that i at least had that good experience to balance out my mood for the Phantom that night.. it was the first time i had seen phantom and didn't realize it was mostly singing.. singing that i didn't understand. and the people tended to al sing over each other which made me focus on how they had done some of the special effects. SLI pointed out to me that in his "behind the scenes" specials about phantom the set director explains it all. in case you are curious, check out these clips.. another thing that distracted me was the oboe player that i could see kept reading a book in between his parts. he's play a little, set down his instrument, pick up his book, read read read, play a little.. kind of distracting. another thing was i wish we could have seen the faces of the characters. but SLI also pointed out that you can see what the phantom looks like without his mask in the special.. i posted those clips for the website, i should have watched more than just the first 5 secs and the last 5 secs. or maybe he should have edited the show better so that the best parts were in those 10 secs. word to the wise SLI...

this weekend brings a sox/yankees series. which reminds me that LD is still holding my favorite red sox shirt hostage. she refuses to give it to me despite many, many broken promises.. i might have to just show up at her house after work someday.

there is also an italian festival this weekend if i can find someone to go with me i might go down tonight.. i doubt it's as "festive" as the olean drunk italian fest though...